Talk:References
Misnamed? Shouldn't this be named Spoofs or Parodies or Satirical references in other media? "References" is too vague a term, connoting the possibility that it might have something to do with a bibliography. Moreover, it's an inaccurate term as much of the article is dealing not with a simple "reference", but actual full blown parody. A "reference" is where a person just notes a similarity in passing. Charlie Brown tries to bend a metal bar. He fails, in full sight of Lucy. She says, "Way to go, Col. Austin." That's a reference, and may not be "notable" enough to warrant inclusion in even a fan encyclopedia. But a multipage spread in MAD or a sketch on SNL or even Sesame Street — that's a parody. Also, there are some things in this list which are neither reference nor parody. Bionic Six is one such example. It's not satire, but a licensed use of the term "bionic", then under protection to Universal. Arguably, Bionic Six should in fact be a bigger part of this wiki. Even though it has no narrative connection with the live action programs, it is a usage of the term by the company that "owned" it in the 70s. There would have been no Bionic Six without The Six Million Dollar Man. Plus, the series revolves around the Bennett family, which isn't exactly coincidental. Another example is calling John Houseman's appearance in Scrooged a reference to SMDM. That's patently absurd. Why not then call John Colicos' appearances as Baltar in BBSG a "reference" to "The Moving Mountain"? Or Lindsay Wagner's appearance in Jessie a reference to The Bionic Woman? As the article stands right now, a case has not been made for how Houseman's mere appearance in a film references SMDM at all, much less is a clear satirical reference. Likewise, the mention of PSI Factor is another case of editorial grasping at straws. The fact that the entry invites the audience to determine whether it's "coincidence" or not that the two series' organizations have similar acronyms almost certainly means that it is precisely coincidence. Especially since there's so much debate as to what OSI means just within the scope of the parent bionic products. There are other examples, but the basic point is that this article is simply all over the place. Its name is vague, its lead suggests it's about satirical references, but many of its examples are hardly that kind of reference. We need to decide what the article is meant to be about, change the name to reflect that, and then re-write the bulk of the body to reflect that change. When a new name is selected, this page should be moved to that page, and this page should be deleted. CzechOut ☎ | 06:46, 9 January 2008 (UTC) :: CzechOut, I see your point and I think you're right. There should be some differentiation of the various parodies / references made. How about if we just created two new pages "parodies / spoofs" and maybe "Bionic Legacy"? We could move all the parodies named on this site to the new "parodies" site (e.g. Mad Magazine, Electric Company etc.) and put all other objects in question on the "Bionic Legacy" site. This could also include stuff like the "Psi Factor" thing or "Jake 2.0" which is not directly the offspring of the two original shows but had a similar concept. But how about stuff such as the jokes they made in "Friends" and on "Sex and the City"? Are these parodies or references? I'd bet the latter. Maybe, for this case, we should keep the "references" site and just leave those entries here, that talk about the two bionic shows, their characters and ideas. In that case, "Scrooged" would rather be a reference than a parody. What do you think? --Bionicboy 20:42, 9 January 2008 (UTC)